Brücke, Die

Brücke, Die [Ger., = the bridge], German expressionist art movement, lasting from 1905 to 1913. Influenced by the art of Jugendstil (the German equivalent of art nouveau), Van Gogh, and the primitive sculpture of Africa and the South Seas, the Brücke group developed an art of fervent emotionalism. Founded in Dresden by Kirchner, Schmidt-Rottluff, and Heckel, the group invited Nolde and Pechstein to join in 1906 and Otto Müller in 1910. They lived and worked communally, periodically issuing portfolios of their graphic art, which at first bore a rather communal style. By 1911 most of them had gone to Berlin. In their exhibitions they displayed boldly colored portraits, landscapes, and city themes. Their expressionistic art was essentially a reaction against a perceived superficiality of impressionism and realism. The members fell out in 1913 over a statement of their aims formulated by Kirchner.